BAE
Systems could obtain new contract from U.S. Army for M109A6 PIM 155m self-propelled
howitzer.

The Sterling Heights business unit of BAE Systems Inc. could obtain more
than $300 million in contract funding over the next few years, after a
federal Defense Acquisition Board decision to green-light initial production
of M109A6
PIM (Paladin Integrated Management.) 155mm tracked self-propelled
howitzer.

The
board earlier this week notified BAE it has approved low-rate initial
production on the Paladin
Integrated Management program, a variant of its M109 self-propelled
howitzer. The decision is not a contract but is an internal decision within
the U.S. Army that precedes a contract award, said Megan Mitchell of BAE's
corporate communications division.

The
Paladin Integrated Management is the latest addition
to BAE's M109 family, which uses the existing main weapon and cab structure
of an M109A6 howitzer, but replaces some of its chassis components with
corresponding parts of the Bradley fighting vehicle.

The
vehicle program is one of many engineered and managed by the Heavy Brigade
Combat Team, a business unit headquartered in Sterling Heights. But without
a contract in hand, Mitchell said, the company could not speculate on
the funding that might go into the initial production award.

But
a budget request under the fiscal 2014 National Defense Authorization
Act, which went through the Senate over the summer, calls for $340.8 million
in total funding for the Paladin program, including $260.2 million in
the Army's Weapons and Tracked Combat Vehicles budget.

That
could fund production of about two dozen vehicle sets, at an estimated
unit cost of $14.4 million each. The Army in a statement this week said
it plans to procure a total 66 and one-half vehicle sets, or 133 vehicles,
starting in 2014, before full-rate production begins in 2017.

The
M109A6 PIM comes in two-vehicle sets, consisting
of a self-propelled howitzer and an accompanying tracked ammunition carrier.